1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to ballistic-resistant protection systems for police officers, and more particularly, to bullet-resistant protection systems for patrol vehicles that can be easily attached or removed from the patrol vehicle and includes a transparent panel that automatically releases from the vehicle's window opening in a side impact collision and can be selectively removed from the window opening and used as a personal, hand-carried protection shield.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patrol vehicles rarely have bullet-resistant windows and doors to protect the police officers from being shot while sitting in the patrol vehicle. Unfortunately, the cost to purchase and install bullet-resistant windows and doors in a patrol vehicle and then remove them from the patrol vehicle when the patrol vehicle is sold to the public is too expensive for some municipalities. Further, ballistic resistant window systems found in the prior art creates a safety risk for the occupants as one's head may impact the ballistic glass. Because bullet-resistant windows are thicker and have greater mass, head injuries are more serious in a side impact accident in patrol vehicles with such windows.
Sometimes, police officers assigned to a patrol vehicle must leave their patrol vehicles. Because they may be shot or struck with rocks or other objects when outside the patrol vehicle, easy access to a lightweight, portable, bullet-resistant, protection shield they may use when outside the patrol vehicle would be desirable.
What is needed is a bullet-resistant protection system for a patrol vehicle that protects the head, upper torso, arms and legs of a driver and a passenger sitting in the patrol vehicle that can be easily installed and removed from the patrol vehicle and also does not require expensive modification to the patrol vehicle. What is needed is a system that uses a transparent panel made of ballistic-rated material and fits into the patrol vehicle's door window opening that automatically releases outward from the window opening when the vehicle experiences a rapid lateral change in velocity, such as may occur in a side impact collision. What is also needed is a system in which the transparent panel that can be easily and quickly disconnected from the patrol vehicle and used as a hand-held protection shield.